Reading and learning occur every day. For those who have the building blocks, this learning can be very meaningful and powerful. However, most often, we spend very little time gathering the powerful words and vocabulary concepts that we need to build understanding.
Unfortunately, many of the teachers who do teach vocabulary are still using the out-dated and ineffective method looking up words in a dictionary/glossary and writing them in sentences Research shows that not only does this not help students learn important concepts, but it actually turns them against words.
source:
WordPOP!
Unfortunately, as we see from this example, some teachers are still using the word "teachers" to refer to educators and "students" to refer to learners.
"word walls"
ReplyDeleterecommends adding words in "manageable amounts (usually 5 to 7 new words at a time...per week).
In a school year, 36 weeks x 5 words = 180 words.
Most of these methods strike me as exceedingly inefficient, especially for kids who aren't learning disabled. The pace set out for these GROUP activities just won't get you where you need to go.
180 words!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't even thought to do the math!
So in the interest of visual learning, we've managed to take all the math out of math, and the words out of English...
ReplyDeleteIn ten years, schools will consist of nothing but finger-painting. Which might have been fine twenty years ago, but completely inappropriate for the crayola-based skills needed to compete in the 21st century.
"Research shows that not only does this not help students learn important concepts, but it actually turns them against words."
ReplyDeleteWhat research is this?